LOS ANGELES – Mayor Karen Bass is heading to Sacramento Wednesday to meet with state leaders to discuss potential solutions for the city’s precarious financial position.
In recent weeks, Bass and other elected officials have lobbied state leaders for a $2 billion relief package — with a decision on the matter to be determined.
City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto will join Bass in Sacramento as they also lobby for legislation regarding liability payments, a factor in the city’s budget deficit, and other issues.
The city is facing fiscal concerns due to a 35% reduction in tax revenue, overspending, an increase in liability payouts, and costs related to recovery from January’s devastating wildfires.
Tax revenue collection is precarious particularly when revenue generating departments are delaying issuing key permits to generate tax revenue.
Applicants to the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Ground Transportation department is designed to provide Transportation Charter Party’s (TCP) drivers with transponders to service passengers at one of the the nation’s busiest airports, however, a month’s long investigation reveals that applicants are facing extreme delays in having their applications processed.
Applicants have paid all required fees in addition to maintaining pricey commercial auto insurance policies while LAWA staff drag their feet with issuing final approvals.
According to the departments public information officer, businesses that have waited upwards of nearly a year to receive an onboarding invitation to understand the rules of the program and how to report revenue in order to generate the requisite tax, have not taken place.
Most recently, applicants were due to hear from the department the week of April 7 to be notified of their onboarding date. When the department’s deadline passed, and follow up comment was sought on why the department didn’t adhere to its own deadline, the PIO stopped responding to emails.
Despite the cuts, the proposed budget would be an 8.2% increase over the budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
Bass issued two executive actions Tuesday to expedite rebuilding efforts in the Palisades. The first was to make permit processing easier. The self-certification program is a pilot program that aims to allow qualified architects to certify their plans and that they meet the California Residential Code.
The second was to utilize artificial intelligence to support city staff review of project plans to ensure they meet building and zoning codes.
“These initiatives will help reduce timelines and further streamline the rebuilding process to keep our recovery effort on track to be the fastest in modern California history,” Bass said in a statement Wednesday.
The wildfires in January caused billions of dollars in damage to property and businesses in the Pacific Palisades and parts of the San Fernando Valley which falls under the jurisdiction of the city of Los Angeles.
Damages related to the Eaton Fire in Altadena, falls under the jurisdiction of Los Angeles County.
City News Service contributed to this report.
